This study proposes to examine the impact of long-term industrial employment of women on family structure and the formation of female-headed households of garment workers in Puerto Rico. Garment workers have been chosen because of their continued central importance in female industrial employment in Puerto Rico, dating back to the initiation of Operation Bootstrap in the 1950's. They are among the lowest paid but more highly unionized segment of the Purerto Rican labor force, and consist primarily of mature, married women with children. The data will be compared with a study already conducted among women garment workers in New Jersey, working for the same firm as the proposed sample of Puerto Rican garment workers. Like garment wokers in Puerto Rico, the New Jersey women are largely older, married women with children, many of whom have been working for the same plant for twenty years and more. The possibilities for comparison should therefore be excellent, particularly since the type of firm is held constant. In addition to participant observation, we shall administer a structured interview to a sample of 200 Puerto Rican garment workers distributed in six different plants of the same firm, and varying in length of employment from less than ten to more than twenty years. Attempts will be made to see what kind of women are recuited into the garment industry in Puerto Rico and how this has varied over time.